ABS

Single-family existing home sales unexpectedly jumped 7% in December from November but prices continue to slide as nearly half of all sales involved foreclosed houses.

Freddie Mac may need to make a second draw on the U.S. Treasury Department line of credit — this time for $30 billion to $35 billion — to maintain a positive net worth as it closes its books on the fourth quarter, according to a securities filing by the company. "

NewOak Capital announced today the appointment of David Bigelow as managing director of marketing. The new appointee will be covering institutional clients such as pension funds, public funds, endowments, private equities, and financial institutions.

Deloitte & Touche released two new modules for CDO Suite — an asset administration, compliance and reporting system for a variety of portfolio structures such as hedge funds and CDOs — that will allow market participants to become either providers or consumers of syndicated loan data.

Despite warning this month that the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle's capital is likely to fall below required minimums, its president, Richard Riccobono, has no immediate plans to raise more.

Turkey's Denizbank has rung in the New Year with a $650 million, six-year deal backed by diversified payment rights.

Auto ABS deals were the only new issues to make an appearance in 4Q08.

The U.K. government last week made a number of announcements regarding initiatives intended to support lending.

There's little doubt among market participants that in the tainted universe of structured finance, the collateralized loan obligation has the greatest chance of survival. The CLO structure is sound and robust, they said, and CLOs are composed of straightforward assets whose origin is easy to determine. Yet, in a market where these products have to contend with forces stronger than their managers ever imagined, experts are forecasting a tough year for European CLOs-one in which the asset class overall will remain in hibernation, and some individual structures will become extinct.

Bankruptcy cram-downs have increasingly become a concern for the ABS market over the past few weeks in light of Citigroup's decision to back a revised bill amending the bankruptcy code. The legislation also carries the support of the new Democratic administration.

A surge in chargeoffs and delinquencies is threatening Advanta Corp.'s survival.

Brazilian ABS has stayed afloat as its counterparts in more developed markets dive and drown in lemming-like numbers.

Saving a country's economy from a financial meltdown is a balancing act, but in the end there is no easy solution - just attention to detail.

Moody's Investors Service has revised its loss projections for U.S. Alt-A RMBS issued in 2006 and 2007.

Freddie Mac issued $15.7 billion in mortgage-backed securities during December, a slight improvement over the previous two months but still one of its weakest issuance months of the year.

Fannie Mae, which has been operating under a government conservatorship since September, has laid off hundreds of workers over the past four weeks, according to sources both inside and outside the mortgage investing giant.

Urban Settlement Services of Pittsburgh (USS), a loan modification specialist, is talking to Bank of America and Fannie Mae about possible contracts, according to one executive close to the vendor.

Manager Activity: AutosFull Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market

The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York is concerned it may have to take an impairment charge against $2 billion in private-label MBS and it has reduced the fourth quarter dividend to 1.1%.

Knight Capital Group promoted Senior Managing Directors Gary Katcher, head of global fixed income to executive vice president.